ON THE SAFE SIDE
The Attitude of Gratitude
by Don Nix,
Insider Safety Column Editor
Although there are regrettably a few among us who
seem to occasionally think otherwise, flying model
airplanes is a privilege, not one of the
“inalienable rights” spoken of so eloquently in the
U.S. Declaration of Independence.
And what a wonderful privilege it is that we live in
an age and a country where all but those of the most
meager means can afford to fly at least some sort of
model. Thanks to present technology, most can afford
to fly Radio Control, either electric or
combustion-powered. For that, we modelers should be
grateful indeed.
Here is where safety enters the picture: Anyone who
has been flying more than a couple of months has
undoubtedly seen a local hotshot who seems to think
the rules are for you, and you, and you, and me, and
not for him. After all, he “knows how to fly.”
At the infamous (but no longer available to
modelers) Mile Square Park in Orange County,
California, where I usually flew when I lived in the
L.A. area, we had 12 flight stations that were
frequently all active at the same time. It was quite
common to see 50 or 60 fliers out on a good-weather
weekend. Clearly, this was an environment where
courteous flying and “safety first” should have been
the standard. Many times it was; too frequently it
wasn’t.
It always seemed as if some self-designated hot
flier had to demonstrate his skill with
shoulder-high passes at 120 mph a few feet in front
of 11 others. Requests that he refrain from doing
such were usually met with, “Get out of my face! I
know how to fly!” I have to admit to a barely
suppressed desire to wait until his airplane was far
off the end of the field, clip his antenna at the
base with bolt cutters and say, “You’re through!”
L.A. and Orange counties compose a monster-plex of
some 14 million people with all the accompanying
potential interference generators known to human
kind. Dear hearts, please write this down and date
it: It does not matter how good you are if your
frequency is suddenly zapped by outside sources.
This was demonstrated one Saturday when a particular
flier got “hit” and his model ended up going through
the open tailgate of another flier’s station wagon.
Happily, no one was hurt … that time. Fortunately,
our technology has developed to the point where such
instances are becoming less frequent, but the
potential always exists.
Of course, mechanical, electrical, or structural
failures are quite common. A servo gives up the
ghost, we fly a little too long for the battery
power left, something somewhere breaks. When any of
these things happen, skill is of little use.
It’s not only appropriate to speak to anyone whom
you see flying discourteously and perhaps
dangerously, but for the safety of others and our
hobby, an obligation. It can certainly be done in a
non-confrontational manner, and if that doesn’t
work, recruit one or two others and approach him
with some backup. Numbers do help in a touchy
situation.
Comments (pro or con), personal experiences, and
suggestions for future subjects are always welcome:
flyerdon@aol.com. Q
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